1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to storage boxes for motor vehicles, and more particularly to a removable storage assembly for use in the bed of a pick-up truck having a removable bucket which remains accessible when a tonneau type bed cover is installed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Storage compartments for use in vehicles of the type with open cargo bed areas are widely known in the prior art. Various assemblies for efficiently securing and storing articles in the otherwise open cargo bed area have been designed in the attempt to provide security and accessibility to these articles while allowing convertibility to the vehicle's full cargo capacity. It will be appreciated that the combination of accessibility, security, and convertibility, while desirable, is difficult to achieve.
Tonneau type bed covers formed of a soft cloth material or a rigid plastic material are widely used to cover the entire truck bed. This type of cover effectively conceals articles within a truck bed while minimizing aerodynamic drag of the otherwise open cargo bed area. However, this type of cover is somewhat inconvenient to install and remove, fails to offer any protection from theft and is unable to prevent the shifting of relatively small articles stored in the bed.
Safford, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,768, discloses a portable trunk apparatus that creates an enclosed area in the rear bed of trucks and sport utility vehicles. The trunk apparatus includes a connector rod which hingedly connects the front wall to the top wall. The front wall is secured against the floor of the truck and the top wall is secured against the rear wall of the truck. However, once installed the connector rod does not act as an axle to allow the rotational opening of the trunk apparatus. The disclosed trunk apparatus is accessible only through the lockable rear gate door of the truck.
Canfield, U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,075 discloses a removable cover for a pickup truck bed having a sloping back wall and an upper lid to create a storage area. The upper lid and the sloping back wall are pivotally connected by a hinge. Retractable pin latches are located on opposite sides of the lower portion of the sloping back wall and engage holes within the truck bed wheel wells. Canfield therefore disadvantageously requires modification to the vehicle structure and fails to provide full use of, and ready access to, the forward portion of the sloping storage area.